Ball-bearing rail



BALL BEARING RAIL Filed Feb. 27, 1928 IN V EN TOR:

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 14, 1928.

1,680,814 PATENT OFFICE.

UNITED STATES MICHAEL SNEE, OLE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

BALLBEARING RAIL.

macaw aia February 27, 1923. Serial No. 257,531.

in vention relates to ball bearing rails, particularly to a type of railsuch as is used for f y it is possible to remove the ball bear- 's uhcase without the necessityof tak- 1; up the rail from its bed in caseany of said balls should become broken or im- "ed in function from anycause whator. t

invention constitutes, an improve- .uic over my patent for ball bearingrail, United States Patent No. 1,652,461, issued w 13, 1927. r objectsinclude simplicity of manue, neral economy in use and practice, 'i-l1l11lnt611t1116 and great durability and cii iency in actual use andservice. 7 With the above and other objects in view, the inventionconsists in the novel and uses fulprovision, formation, construction andrelative arrangement of parts, members and features all as shown in acertain einbodi Corresponding parts in all the figures are designated bythe same reference characters.

Referring now with particularity to the drawing, the improved device asan entirety is a gnated by A, the same including a rail or, antidrictionmeans Z), and means 0, all of which elements may be used'in practicingan embodiment of the invention.

The rail is conventional in form as to n thereof and includes the usualhead 1, ch and flange 3. The head of the rail alon the side thereof isformed with a longitudinal curved groove 4, and within said curvedgroove 4 are one or more of the anti friction means 7). Inthe presentinstance the said means I) constitutes roller bearings. No particularmethod is outlined as to the forming of the curved groove as it may beformed in numerous manners such as by n of a rail of this characterwherein and nt in the accompanying, drawing, de

M casting. Furthermore it will be seen that the roller bearings areadapted to contact with a face 5 of flange 6 of the wheel (Z, and thatthe tread 7 of said wheel rests upon the head 1 of the rail. Thus as thewheel revolves upon the rail therolle'r bearings 5 will contact with theflange 6 and be rotated.

It can he demonstrated that a rail of this character lessens thefrictional engagement between the flange of the wheel and the rail andtherefore saves wear and tear of the rails tions caused by side sway orvunevenness of the track or road bed. Likewise power necessary to movethe rolling stock is reduced. T e rails, of course, are made in certainbori or or lengths and it is essential toclose ends of he grooves-itwhere such lengths are joined and this done byproviding a block 6 forthe ends, which is inset within the rail and held to said rail by anyconvenient means such as shown at 10. Furthermore, a coil spring 11 isadapted to be within the groove and to bear against the surface of thisblock and the first roller hearing as shown at 12. It will be noted thatthe outer surface 13 of said block is substantially in alignment withthe periphery of the several roller bearings. This is done in order toovercome shock, to wit,'as the wheel rolls upon the track it isessential that the flange thereof should not contact abruptly with anyof the roller bearings otherwise they might be cracked or split,and'this block permits the flange to'be maintained at a proper distance.This particularly applies when there is any side sway of therollingstock or where the rails are curved. The coil spring 11 overcomes whatis known as backlash, as it is evident that the roller bearings have aten dency to move in the grooves in a direction and wheel flanges due tojolting moopposite to movement of the rolling stock,

venient to have to remove a section of the rail to remove broken rollerbearings and to overcome such a necessity the meansc is introduced. Thismeans constitutes the disc 20 formed with a head 21 and'with a screwthreaded shank 22. This means 0 is adapted to be placed in the rail insuch a position that the disc portion 201's received between two of therollers as shown at 23 and 24.

To this end the rail head wouldbe tapped to.

receive the screw threaded shank 22 as shown at 25. means 0 to bereadily secured to the head of the rail. Quite obviously this means willhold the roller bearings 23 and E24 separated and if it becomesnecessary to replace any broken bearings the means 0 may be removed fromthe rail head and the roller bearings moved along and outwardly throughthe space that was formerly occupied by said means. The diameter of thedisc 20 is of course slightly greater than the diameter of the rollerbearings. Quite obviously any number of the means 6 might beprovidcd forany'rail length, only one be ing shown in the present instance.Furthermore the said means 0 mayassume various shapes and forms, theprinciple being to provide some member which may be removed from therail at selected zones thereof, whereby the roller members may be passedoutwardly fromthecurved groove 4- at the position formerly occupied bythe said A means before it was removed.

true that the end blocks'e might be removed.

\Vhile it is for a like purpose, yet this would necessitate removing thesprings and other parts and would not be quite as satisfactory as theremoval of the means 0.

The shape of the disc 20 might be varied such as by providing a cam faceso that the degree of placement of said means within Of course the head21 permits the the rail and the contact of the roller bearings with saidmeans a would vary the spacing between the bearings 23 and 24.

It is obvious that various changes, modifications and variations may bemade in practisingthe invention in departure from the particular showingof the drawing with:

of, and means between certain of the rollers for spacing said rollersapart comprising a disc formed with a head and with a screwthreadedshank, said screw-threaded shank being'threzuled to the rail in the zoneof said rollers. v

In a rail, rollers within said rail and projecting outwardly from asurface thereof, and means between certain of said rollers for spacing:said rollers apart comprising a disc formed with a shank threaded tosaid rail in the zone of said rollers, said disc being of greaterdiameter than the diameter of the rollers. 7

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to c this specification.

MICHAEL SFEE.

